The deer carcass, stiff from being put on ice, was weighed and then hung by its back legs from an elevated rail.

A worker pushed the animal down the rail into a refrigerated room where 26 other white-tail deer hung in the chill before being rendered into venison steaks, chili meat, jerky, or cheese and jalapeño sausage.

It was shaping up as a busy day at Eddie's Game Processing at 16216 Nacogdoches Road, one of at least a half-dozen businesses in the area that are preparing for the busiest time of the year.

While processing plant owners declined to say how much they expect profits to grow this season, they're optimistic that this year will be better than last, when 2011's punishing drought devastated the deer population in Texas.

“We may do 2,000 deer this season, which would be a decent year,” said Gary Riley, co-owner of Eddie's, as a tang of spices hung in the air. The smoker in back was packed with sausage.

“It looks a whole lot better than last year,” said Gerry Pruski, co-owner of Presa Frozen Food Lockers at 2700 S. Presa St., a processing specialist. “This year, the deer are all fat.”

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Then there's Granzin's in New Braunfels, which might be the big daddy of processors in terms of volume. Granzin's expects to handle as many as 7,000 deer this season, processing manager Jason Reyes said.

As hunters bag greater numbers of white-tail deer this season, they add to the coffers of family-owned businesses such as Eddie's and Presa, along with Granzin's in New Braunfels, San Antonio's Texas Big Game Processing, Dzuik's Meat Market in Castroville and Schott's Meat Market in Helotes.

Most are run by second-generation owners.

“It is nothing glamorous, and it's hard work,” said Riley, who owns Eddie's with his wife, Lisa. Her father, Eddie Eckols, launched the business in 1974.

Gerry and Linda Pruski's Presa Frozen Food Lockers has even more history. His father founded the company 70 years ago, offering customers a place to store meat before people had home freezers. The business still has 500 lockers for rent.

Deer processors' big season generally starts with rifle-hunting season for white-tail deer, which this year started Nov. 3 for a 30-county region of South Texas and ends Jan. 20.

The cost to process a deer varies by weight. A hunter will pay about $70 for “standard process” for an 85-pound deer. Standard process calls for the deer to be made into steaks and ground meat. Processors charge more for specialty items such as sausage, salami and jerky.

Now deer processors with roots in the past century are adding high-tech touches.

Eddie's has a software system to track customers' orders and the cuts of meat they want.

And at Texas Big Game Processing at 323 W. Nakoma, owner Bradley Garcia emails customers to let them know how the processing of their deer is going and when their orders are complete. And a friend is making him a smartphone app.

“Right now, I'd say at least 40 percent of my customers are tracking their orders by smartphone. They do everything by email, and it makes it easier for me.”

The email ordering system helps prevent price shocks, Garcia said. “Let's say a guy brings in a 100-pound animal and they want all sausage. That can get expensive. So with email, we tell them they can choose less expensive options.”

Pruski is more old school — and proud of it.

“No computer,” Pruski said as he thumbed through a thick sheaf of orders. Instead, he puts trust in his own secret sausage recipe. He prepares all the sausage himself — smoked using hickory sawdust.